


this fire (it's burning us up)

by electrumqueen



Series: Boy On Fire [2]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-26
Updated: 2010-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-13 09:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electrumqueen/pseuds/electrumqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss Everdeen watches District Twelve burst into flames.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this fire (it's burning us up)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Regina Spektor's _The Calculation_.  
>  PG; 5813 words. general THG warnings.  
> Sequel to [the unavoidable sun (here it comes)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/135982).

  
"She came here with me," Gale says, and he is on fire, eyes dark, cheekbones striking, everything about him stunning, captivating. He is a world away from a boy in a wood with a bow in his hand; but Katniss still knows _him_ , knows everything about him: he is not in love with Madge Undersee. She would know if he was.

Prim says, "Kat?" The cat is in her lap; it's not purring. Her eyes are wide and blue and they won't stop looking at Katniss.

She remembers he said: _Catnip, be careful; Catnip, don't cry._ She remembers she said: _I promise I’ll look after them._

On the screen Gale's hand is in Madge’s and he's kissing her cheek, saying, "I’m sorry, you don't have to say anything--" and she's blushing, eyelashes fluttering, tucked against his side, her white dress falling into his fire like both their costumes were made to fit together (they probably were). He’s staring straight at the camera lens and it's like he's looking at _her_ , at Katniss Everdeen in her living room with a bad-tempered cat and a serious case of _please be all right._

Katniss says, "I’m sure he has a plan." It is not so much that he is kissing Madge Undersee as it is Madge Undersee and Gale Hawthorne in the same arena; the two halves of her, her _friends._ She is going to lose both of them and before that she's going to lose _him_ and it's-- ridiculous, and she should get over the stupid twisting feeling in her stomach and fucking care about _oncoming death_ as opposed to _my sort-of-but-not-really-boyfriend is cheating on me._ Apparently her stomach makes _no sense._

He says, "I’ve never been on fire before," and he smirks; it's dark and dangerous and she stops breathing.

( _If I could,_ he is seventeen and saying, in a forest in summer in her memory; _I would bomb them all and watch them die. They kill us for fun: I would enjoy it._

And she's saying, _sure, Gale, but how're you gonna do that?_ lightly because she doesn't know what to do with this, this is all emotion and she can't-- she can't handle this anymore.

The look in his eyes is terrifying. She will remember it forever after by the truth in it.)

"Fuck," she says, " _fuck._ " Her heart is jackhammering in her chest. She's thinking, _Gale, you son of a bitch, just play their goddamn game._

Prim says, " _Katniss._ "

Their mother says, "What’s going on?"

She can't say, _Gale is going to fuck with them, they are a giant bear and he is going to poke them with a stick,_ so she takes a deep breath and says, "Gale's going to die."

Prim's face twists up. She doesn't say anything.

Katniss feels like a kicker of kittens. "Sorry," she says, forcing the words out of her mouth, forcing her tone light. "They look really good up there, like they could be a threat. Like they-- like he could win this."

\--

She has a bitch of a time falling asleep. Eventually she slips out through the window, through the fence and _out._ The forest is thriving and _alive_ ; she takes her bow but doesn't shoot anything, just sits down on the rock ledge she and Gale claimed as theirs, when they were younger and better and brighter, and tugs her knees up to her chest. She keeps thinking, _goddamn you Gale,_ and it hurts so fucking much but all she can do is curl into the unforgiving surface and _miss him._

\--

"Hey," she says. She has not slept all night; she rubs her eyes a little.

Rory’s sitting on the stoop outside his house, chin on his hands. "Hey, Katniss," he says. His eyes are red.

She ruffles his hair with an easiness she does not feel, stretches out her legs and sits next to him. "Kids inside?"

"Getting ready for school." He's biting his lip. "Did you--"

 _Gale_ is hanging between them, the boy on fire; he's supposed to ruffle Rory's hair and sling his arm around Katniss' shoulder and fill up this empty space but he's too busy being at the heart of a firestorm: she should have seen this coming. She should have done something: if there is one thing she knows it's that she isn't capable of watching him die, and Prim's had enough of women losing it over men to last her a lifetime.

"I saw him," she says tightly. "Did you know--"

He shakes his head. "Katniss--" his voice is wavering. "It’s _Gale._ "

Both of them know this look in Gale's eyes; both of them know what this means. "Is your mom around?" she asks.

"She’s inside," he says. "I don't know what he's going to do."

"You know Gale," she says, wryly, lighter than she's feeling, "he's going to win. I just don't know what definition of _victory_ he's using."

\--

"We have to get you out of the District," she tells Hazelle. "I promised Gale I’d look after you and this is the only way I can think of. Rory's a decent hunter, he knows the woods; there has to be something else out there."

" _Katniss,_ " Hazelle says. "What?"

"You saw Gale," she says, running a hand through her hair. "Look-- we can get out through the meadow; we can get to the fence and then-- and then there's caves, there's trees, there's shit I _know._ We’ll come with you, Prim and I and my mother and it will-- it will be okay."

There is a mug of tea on the kitchen table. Hazelle's hands are cupped around it. "Katniss, I need you to slow down and take deep breaths and _explain._ "

Katniss shakes her head, sits down. "You saw Gale last night," she says. "He’s planning something and it's not going to be pretty. I can't save him but I know they're going to come after you and they can't if you're not here."

"We can't go now," Hazelle says. Her voice is flat, determined. "It’s a bad time, no one's really moving; we'd be noticed. And they'll know it's you, Katniss, they'll know it's the forest." She chews her lip, thinking. "You have to leave me here, they won't expect-- I’ll say the kids are sick, aren't feeling well and can't come out." Her eyes are grey and dark and Katniss can only think _Gale._

" _No,_ " Katniss says. "I told him I’d take care of his family and that includes you."

"I’ll follow after," Hazelle says. "If I can. This is the only way it's going to work. And you can't tell me any more about this-- talk to Rory."

"You look like Gale," Katniss says; she can't help it. "Okay. Hey-- if I don't--"

"I love you like I love Posy. Be careful, Katniss."

"Thank you for everything."

She can't breathe; she moves out of the house so fast she almost trips over her own feet, and swipes at her face so the tears don’t burn her eyes.

\--

"Okay," Katniss says. "You know the lake house?"

Rory blinks at her. "What?"

"We’re leaving," she says, clipped, quick. "You need to be ready to get the kids out, through the Meadow. I’ll meet you there."

"Now?" He's calm now; _this_ is how she and Gale trained their siblings.

"First break," she says. "They’ll be showing Career interviews, everyone'll be busy. I’ll walk you to the Meadow, and you'll have to get them to the house. Think you can do that?"

He nods, pale and drawn. "Katniss, aren't you--"

"I’ll have to get my shit together," she says. "Our mothers, some food, that kind of thing. I’ll meet you later, but I’ll less be suspect, not many people know Gale and I are friends. I need to know you guys are safe; I promised him." (She keeps saying _promised_ like it means something, like if she breaks this she's dooming him. That's what she feels, though: desperate, lost, alone. She misses him.)

\--

The day after Gale and Madge left District Twelve, Katniss went hunting. She bagged the most animals she's ever had alone; every time she slit their throats she pictured Gale's enemies, falling before her knife.

After the fourth rabbit, she started seeing Gale's throat laid out under her hand; she started thinking, _if I had gone with you, you would be safe._ She started thinking, _I have left you alone to die._

Buttercup looked at her when she got back, and he must have seen _something,_ because he butted his head against her leg just the once, like she needed it. Then he ran away, but it was enough to tell Katniss she looked like _shit._

\--

They go to school because they'll be noticed if they don't. Everything feels too mundane for Gale to have been on television last night, wearing fire.

Prim tugs on Katniss' sleeve and says, "You weren't at home last night." It's cautious, not pushy; _concerned._

Katniss can't meet her eyes. "I have to get to class," she says.

\--

The Games broadcast has been delayed, due to 'scheduling difficulties'. Instead they're showing a retrospective; best kills of the past seventy-three years. She has no idea what that means but she knows it's probably something to do with trouble, spelt G-A-L-E; her suspicions are only confirmed when she gets pulled out of class and into the principal's office.

The mayor is sitting in the principal's chair, behind his desk. In his face she sees Madge, a little; sees her blonde hair and her sharp smile and her blue that flickered with bravery last night, as she held Gale's hand.

"Did you know what he was planning?" he asks tightly. His mouth is tight; eyes tired and sad.

She doesn't have to ask who _he_ is, but there's a hollow pit at the bottom of her stomach and she's thinking about Rory, probably chewing his lip in class right now, thinking about Hazelle washing shirts as if everything is normal. "No," she says, heavily. "I don't-- but it's Gale, there was always that option."

"It's not supposed to _be_ an option." he sighs, not looking right at her, eyes like his daughter's fixed somewhere to the right of her head. "Madge’s mother is dead. They wouldn't tell us why but-- they came to get her just before."

She thinks, _why are you telling me this_? All he knows of her is the strawberries he buys, sometimes, and that she is sort of friends with his daughter. But she's thinking about Posy, about Vick; she's thinking that at least she knows she can read her best friend. "Mayor Undersee?" she asks. Her voice cracks a little.

There’s a pause; she's unnecessary, sort of. He’s got his thoughts and his tragedy and she isn't really a part of that.

Finally: "How are the Hawthornes?"

"Alive." She's drier than she means to be; his wife is _dead_ and his daughter will probably follow and it's her best friend's fault. "Not for long, I guess."

(She wonders what Gale has done, how he has managed to provoke them. Wonders what has happened to Madge’s mother, who Madge never talked about; wonders how Madge Undersee is doing in the Arena. She masks her terror with annoyance; if she is not angry with him she will start crying, will break down, will fall apart.)

His swallow is loud, in the quiet of the room. "Can you get them out?" he says it softly, slowly, like the words are drawing blood.

"What?" This is the last thing she expected him to say.

"Katniss Everdeen," his eyes are steady now, calm and stable and competent, "you know the forest better than anyone. That’s what your father taught you. Can you get Gale Hawthorne's family out of the District?"

She says, "Is this--"

"This is serious." There's something about the timbre of his voice that makes her believe him, that makes her trust him. For the first time in all the years she can remember there is a leader in front of her, not a puppet.

"Yes. I was-- I was going to anyway." She doesn't even think about lying, just opens her mouth and _tells the truth_.

His voice is quiet again, considering. "How many people do you think you could take with you?"

\--

There is a whole-school assembly. The mayor is on television, sitting behind a desk with a gun in his right hand. It looks awkward in his fingers, like it doesn't belong there.

Katniss sits with Prim and Rory and Vick, Posy tugged into her lap, at the back of the room. Prim says, "What do you think this is about?"

And Rory says, "What do you think Gale _did?_ " His mouth is tight and his eyes are so much older than they were before Gale left.

She strokes Posy's hair and remembers the way the mayor looked at her and says, "It’s going to be okay." (She has never been good at lying to Prim; this does not mean she won't try.)

Mayor Undersee says, "You may have noticed that the Games have not proceeded according to schedule." He tells them about his wife; then that Gale and Madge are probably dead by now.

Posy twists in Katniss' lap and her eyes are wide, filled with tears.

Prim catches her hand, whispers, " _shh_." Somehow it works.

Katniss is utterly still. There is a part of her that still thinks, _Gale is coming home_ ; she wonders what it would take to make it shut up.

"They are going to punish us," the mayor says, "for a revolution we have had no part in. But: we should have had a part in it. It is shameful that we have let our children die for so long. We owe a debt to Gale Hawthorne: now is the time for revolution." There is fire in his eyes. It makes her think of Gale, sitting in front of Caesar Flickerman, burning.

(She thinks, uncharitably, _would you be doing this if you had anyone left?_ but he sort of does, she realizes: he has Rory and Vick and Posy and Delly Cartwright and _her_ ; he has the children of his District, and his obligation to protect them.)

He outlines his plan for the District: Peacekeepers will distribute weapons to everyone, and they will organise everyone into ranks at key strategic positions, the specifics of which will be distributed to each group once they form. An exit strategy is absent in its conspicuousness: no one is making it out of here. She wonders if anyone will actually do what he wants, join this rebellion; it's certain death, but so is everything thanks to Gale.

(He mentions nothing about Katniss, about _her_ part of the plan; he had looked at her, weary and infinitely responsible, and said, _The whole point of this is you; we can't take the risk of informers passing this information on. Nobody can know except those who go with you._ )

When the address is over, he says, "Good luck, District Twelve," and the screen goes blank.

There’s a blond boy in her class, two rows ahead of them. He stands up and starts clapping; soon the rest of the room is full of applause. (Katniss supposes they are the ones who feel the Games the most, they are the ones who lose classmates and friends: they are the ones with most cause to hate the Capitol.)

The principal gets up, and says, "Katniss Everdeen's going to talk to you about your positions in the effort." There are tears in the corners of her eyes.

Katniss runs her fingers through her hair, and takes the microphone. "We’re going to be running ammunition from the mines," she says. "And getting food stores established there for the effort. I’m going to need everyone to get into class groups, and follow your teachers. If there are informers we can't let them know where the important stuff is, so don't stop; don't tell anyone where you're going. If you want to leave messages for your families, there's pens and paper here, and they'll be distributed after we leave. Grades ten to twelve, Peacekeepers should show up soon with some weapons."

She pauses, staring out into the sea of worried, wan faces; there is an edge of exuberance, in some of them. She catches the blue eyes of the blond who stood up, and sketches a quick salute. "Long live District Twelve," she says.

\--

They take half an hour to write the letters. Most of the older kids are bursting with excitement; Katniss has done her job properly, but most of it was the mayor, if she's being honest. The class groups aren't really class groups-- most older siblings have their younger siblings with them, trailing them. The teachers are all bright-eyed, terror warring with pride. For the first time in seventy-five years, Twelve has something to be proud of.

She thinks, _good job, Gale,_ but it's dry like dust.

Prim says, "Rory and I will look after Posy and Vick," and the set of her mouth is firm, calm. "You need to be in charge of people, right."

Katniss hugs her sister. "Thanks," she says. "Stick with the group, okay."

(She’s thankful Prim has not asked about their mother. She doesn't want to have to say, _we won't get to say goodbye._

Her letter says, _I’m sorry_ , and _good luck,_ and _I forgive you_. She doesn't know if it will get ever home; she doesn’t know if anything will ever ease this guilt.)

\--

The teachers take them through the square in town, where things are starting to look like they might have a chance. There is a lot of panicked running around, firmly-closed shutters; but there are more people out in the street, taking weapons from the Peacekeepers, than Katniss really expected. She thinks if Gale was here right now he'd be proud of them.

Each age group gets given a different set of foodstuffs, life essentials to carry. it is more food than most of them have seen in a lifetime; Katniss stares at it for a moment, in wonderment, before she shoulders her pack of dried strips of meat and thanks her teacher.

"Good luck," she says, thinking, _I won't ever see you again._

"Back at you," Mrs. Rowan says; her smile is sad, sharp, _defiant_. "Keep them safe."

\--

Before they head into the mines, Katniss gathers her grade, the two above it and the one below it. "Okay," she says, "here's the deal. We’re going to get the kids out of Twelve-- that's the whole point of this mess. There’s a tunnel in the mines that's been hidden for a long time and we're going to take it out, into the forest. Then we're going to run like hell, and hope this resistance has bought us enough time to get clear of the Capitol's wrath."

"Katniss," says a dark-haired boy she remembers as one of Gale's friends, who has a gun strapped to his back, "you don't know the mines."

"I have a map," she says, wryly. "But I was getting to that-- can I get a show of hands, people who've worked in the mines before."

"What makes you think we're going to leave Twelve?" Leevy asks. She is long and lean, with dark hair like Katniss, and a knife stuck through her belt. Her eyes are gleaming. "We’re able-bodied, we can fight."

"Which is fine," Katniss says, "but the kids aren't, and we need to get them out. If once that's done you still have a death wish, feel free to come back, but for now, this is more important." She's snapping; she doesn't care, this is _important_.

A lot of hands go up; almost all of them in the upper two grades, except the merchant kids.

"Okay," she says, doing math in her head. "I want four miners to every two non-miners; each group of six, you're in charge of a class of younger kids. I don't want to see any orphan classes-- feel free to take the ones with your kid siblings in them. You have ten minutes to get organized."

Gale's friend catches her sleeve. "I’m sorry about Gale," he says. "And Madge."

"You too," she says, tightly. "Hey-- don't question me in front of everyone ever again. If you have an issue, take it up with me _quietly._ We can't handle doubt in anything right now."

He nods. She remembers his name: Thom. "Katniss," he says. "You’re doing good."

"Thanks," she says. (She wonders if this is what Gale felt like, heading full-tilt into his revolution.)

\--

The mines are dark and cramped and a bunch of the little kids start crying, are quickly soothed.

Katniss keeps an eye on Rory and Prim, leading Vick and Posy; feels sick with the dust on her hands and face. It’s terrifying: she can only think about her father, about Gale's, but she tamps down the fear. It's silly but she imagines Gale alive, Gale with his hand on her shoulder saying, _Keep true, Catnip,_ and she feels better, like she can do this.

(Really, she is arbitrary right now: only once they get into the forest will the mayor's choice make any sense.)

She follows the low light, and the faint scratchy map, and leads them onwards, through the winding dim path.

\--

It takes them so long all the hours blur together and she loses all sense of time: it could have been ten hours in there or ten days, for all she knows. They stop a couple of times, in rough-hewn tunnels that aren't used at all; they've had to pull out their own lights. They don't stop to sleep, but a lot of the younger kids have to be carried for extended periods of time.

It wears on everyone's nerves. A lot of the time she feels like she can't breathe, but Prim puts her hand on Katniss' elbow and says, "C'mon, Kat. You can do this." and even in the faint, flickering flashlight, she can see Prim's smile, Prim's courage; this is what keeps her going.

(That, and her memory of Gale's smile.)

\--

They emerge in a clearing under the shelter of a craggy cliff face. If she squints into the distance, she can see the familiar shapes of Twelve's buildings; the Hob and the Justice Building rising above the rest. There is a hovercraft buzzing above them: it has not landed.

She thinks, _bombs_. Her mouth goes dry.

It’s stupid, though, because they'll only be intending scare tactics. They aren't going to _know_ what the mayor is planning, unless—All right, they'll know what the mayor is planning; even Twelve has its informers. But Twelve is useful, they won't come in intending to kill _everyone._

"Hey," the blond says-- Peeta Mellark, he's been in all her classes and once when she was a kid there was bread. There’s a kid on his hip, a dark-haired boy, sucking his thumb with his head against Peeta's chest. "Katniss?"

"Yeah," she says, shaking her head. "Okay, time to make camp. I think all of us could use some rest."

"There’s some caves, over there," Delly Cartwright says. She’s got two six-year-olds clinging to her hands; her hair is black with dirt and dust. She makes a face. "Not that I’m excited to go back into darkness and spiders, but--"

"Good plan," Katniss says, rubbing her eyes. "Let’s go with that."

She can't resist one last look at Twelve: the silhouette of it is dark, against the sky. The craft is landing. She closes her eyes and follows her people inside.

\--

It’s a cave system, relatively large, relatively dry. They make temporary camp, designate one cavern for sleeping, one for meeting, one for food storage, one for waste; hang flashlights that can come down in a hurry if they need to leave. (Not that you can move very fast, with the amount of children Katniss is shifting.)

Rory says, "We’re not going back, are we." His voice is controlled, but she can hear the desperation seeping under it.

"No," Katniss says. "I’m sorry." (She thinks about their mothers, wonders where they are now. she can see her mother in the kitchen, staring out the window; can see Hazelle in the Hob, learning to shoot a gun.

She thinks, _sorry, Gale_.)

\--

She calls a meeting with the older group. "There’s Peacekeeper carriers over Twelve," she says. "You probably saw them. Whatever’s going on, they're dying."

Leevy frowns. "We should--"

"You want to leave these kids alone?" Thom interrupts. "Fuck, Leevy. We can't do that."

"There’s a bunch of us," she says. "We’re tough, we're strong-- most of the people we left behind don't even have that."

"They did this for _us_ ," Katniss says. "We can't waste that."

"We can't let them _die alone_." That's a blonde girl, hair in a ponytail; for a second Katniss sees _Madge_ and feels like she's going to throw up.

"Suicide isn't the answer to that, though." The light hits the angles of Peeta's face, his frown.

"This is going to sound really horrible," Delly says, "but can we talk about this in the morning? I am pretty sure we will better placed to make this decision on _sleep_."

Laughter breaks out, spreading amongst them like a wave until Katniss is holding her stomach, it hurts so much. It’s nervous and shrill, but it's _there_.

\--

In the morning there are two more carriers, dark and ominous, hovering in the sky.

Leevy says, "That’s not a good sign."

Thom says, "They’ll be overrun inside a day." His eyes are grave, solid.

Katniss swallows. It’s sort of an epiphany. "They’ll come after us."

"Some of us will have to go back," Leevy says. She’s the youngest child in her family; this makes sense. "We have to buy the rest of them time." Now there is no relish in it, just resignation.

\--

Prim says, "You’re going back to Twelve." Her voice is wavering. She looks at Katniss like the sky is falling down.

"I left our mother there," she says. It hurts to say it. "I can't-- besides: I know the forest, and speed's an issue this time."

There is dirt on Prim's cheek; it contrasts with her eyes and makes them look deeper, bluer. "I don't want you to die." She looks _so young_ ; Katniss's heart is wrenching, turning over and over and bashing itself against her ribs.

"This is the only way I know to keep you safe," and the only way Katniss can say it is to know that it is the truth. "Prim, I love you _so much._ "

Prim shakes her head hard, but Katniss can see the tears glimmering under her eyelashes. "Let me come with you," she says.

Both of them laugh, unsteady, shaky. "Yeah," Katniss says. “Because you can kill people."

"I could if I had to," Prim protests; it's a lie and both of them know it, but she says it like it's true.

"Prim," she says, hand on her sister's shoulder, eyes holding her gaze and not letting go, "it's much harder to fix things than to destroy them. And you can fix things, can fix people-- these kids are going to need you. Please stay."

Prim closes her eyes. "What if I need you?" she asks.

Katniss hugs her sister. "I know. But you can do this without me."

\--

The Seam teenagers draw lots but Katniss doesn't play; she's going back and everyone knows it. They don't tell the town kids; they'd just slow them down. Some of the kids with siblings stay put, tired and angry and frustrated: there is nothing worse than helplessness, but that is why they are going to war. This is all they can do.

Katniss feels like shit but this is _the only way_ (that is what she tells herself). Peeta and Delly will take good care of all of the children, anyway: they are good with crying, not like Katniss and Thom and Leevy, who despite having younger siblings are more used to finding food for them than fixing grazed knees. And Peeta gave her that bread, that time: she can trust him with Prim and Rory and Vick and Posy, and all the rest. She kind of has to.

In the end, a couple hundred of them are going back. She hopes they'll be quick learners: walking in the forest is a tricky business.

\--

Rory's got his knees tucked up to his chin. "You’re leaving," he says. His eyes are red: he's been crying, but who hasn't?

"I’m trying to keep my promise," she says, trying to smile. "Hang in there, okay? You need to keep going, all of you. Get as far as you can from Panem-- there has to be something else out there. Prim is a terrible shot but there are bows in the packs-- Rory. You're all that's left of Twelve." she's thinking about his mother, about his brother, about Leevy and Thom and all the people she isn't going to be able to save.

"No pressure," he says. "Hey, Katniss-- I’ll do my best."

"That’s all I can ask, kiddo," she says, and ruffles his hair, and kisses his forehead, and thinks, _God, you look like Gale._

\--

She leaves her bow and quiver next to Prim's bedroll and takes a gun and some ammunition from their stores.

She tells herself it is because guns are more effective and Prim will need to learn to shoot: really, she cannot bear the idea of it burning apart; cannot bear the idea of this thing she has loved dying even if she does.

It is the last thing left of her friendship with Gale, of her father: deep inside of her, some part of her heart needs it to survive.

\--

They are a quarter of the way back to Twelve when Leevy says, "There is someone in the trees," and Mire puts his finger to his lips and slips silently back through them.

" _Fuck_ ," they hear, and then a crunch of sticks.

"Hi," Peeta Mellark says, sheepishly. His hair has leaves in it.

Katniss says, "What the _fuck._ "

Mire says, "That’s what I said."

"I’m coming with you," Peeta says. "It’s my home too."

She closes her eyes, swears under her breath. They don't have _time_ for this. She says, "If you slow us down I will kill you myself."

\--

Peeta says, "I’ve been in love with you since we were kids."

They’re passing around cups of hot tea from a thermos in Echo's pack; Katniss almost spills hers. "Thanks," she says; she doesn't know _what_ to say. "If that's why you're here you should go back. I’m not worth dying for. And you're a crappy shot."

His smile is painfully sweet. "There are bags of flour under the bakery. I know how to blow it up." He pauses, eyes very blue, so blue she thinks of Prim, and Madge. "And, Katniss? You are."

\--

They get to Twelve just before dawn breaks, crappily-rested but well-armed. The meadow is exactly how she remembers it,

Darius is patrolling with a corps of Twelve's Peacekeepers, by the fence. He has a black eye and his body armor is dented. "Katniss?" he says, through the mesh. "What are you doing here?" Panic threads through his voice.

Peeta says, "The kids are all right." He's got a gun but he's holding it all wrong; she taught him how on the way and she hopes he remembers if he needs to use it.

"Want to let us through?" Katniss asks. "You looked like you could use some backup."

Darius' eyes catch hers; _are you serious?_

"No joke," she says. "We’re the cavalry, and we're _that_ stupid." She tries to smile. It sort of works.

\--

Darius told them the headquarters were at the Hob; it figures that the place where all the quiet revolutions took place would anchor the big one. They use the back roads to get there: they don't run into a lot of trouble, just one or two stray Peacekeepers, and they're easy kills, clean.

The mayor says, "What are you doing here?" He's genuinely distressed, genuinely worried for _her_ which is-- strange. She’s not used to adults caring. The circles around his eyes are darker than black.

Katniss says, "This is our home too." she's tucking her braid up into her cap, getting her clip of ammunition easily accessible on her hip. There's a knife in her belt for when she runs out but she's seriously doubting it's going to come to that: more likely there will be a pulseshot to her head or her heart and she'll be dead. That’s inferior technology for you.

Peeta says, "We’re fighting with you."

(She can't help but think, _hope,_ that if Gale was here, if he knew what was happening-- she can't help but believe he would be proud of her. In lieu of his presence, she is proud of herself.)

\--

Before Gale left, he took her face in his hands and said, _I kind of-- I don't know how I feel about you. But I couldn't leave without knowing I’d-- can I kiss you?_

She choked, a little; this was not something she had ever anticipated. _Okay,_ she said. He was going to die, right. And she didn't know anything else but she knew she loved him.

His mouth was hot; his lips were chapped and they fit against her mouth perfectly, like they'd always been two halves of a whole.

They broke apart, and stared at each other.

 _Oh shit,_ she said.

 _I shouldn't have done that,_ he said. His eyes were sick with the knowledge of how right it had been, how well they had fit together. _I didn't mean to burden you with this._

She swallowed. _No,_ she said, _I’m glad you did._

\--

Katniss is going to the roof: there are Peacekeepers massing below them and she is above all else a good shot. The gun slings across her back; not the same weight as a quiver and a bow, but not precisely different, either.

Peeta is at the foot of the stairs. "Good luck," he says.

She wonders if she'd have ever loved him, given more time. "Same to you," she says. "Hey, Peeta-- thanks for the bread."

She doesn't look back, doesn’t wait for his response; just keeps climbing up and _up_ , until she breaks into the clear dawn air. Dawn is spreading across the rooftops and the soldiers' helmets underneath; it is crimson, gold.

She shades her eyes against its brightness and breathes in deep. _Hey, Gale,_ she thinks, _the sky is on fire._

/end.


End file.
